Epitaxial growth of semiconductor materials is normally done in parallel with structural characterisation. These studies provide a feedback on the quality of the materials being grown, including:

• Surface roughness and morphology, surface defects (AFM)
• Compositions and relaxations of layers  (X-Ray Diffraction)
• Epitaxial layer thickness and quality (TEM, XRR)
• Electron diffraction and surface quality (RHEED, LEED)
• Ion Scattering Techniques (LEIS, MEIS, HEIS)
• Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)
  

Other structural characterisation is performed to understand the atomic structure of materials, or to profile the composition by depth.